Konstant Kitten —
The website KonstantKitten.com claims to offer a service that's like a Netflix for kittens. They'll ship you an adorable kitten. You get to enjoy it for three months, and then you return it and get a brand new kitten in the mail. This keeps repeating for as long as you want, allowing you to enjoy permanent kittens.
Of course, the company is completely fake. No one is running a kitten rental service through the mail.
There are a couple of reasons why we can be sure of this.
First, even though Konstant Kitten claims to be open for business, there's no way to sign up as a customer.…
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015. Comments (1)

Google Nest —
Several members of a Berlin-based activist group called the Peng Collective recently made a presentation at the Re:publica tech conference in which they pretended to be Google employees and debuted four new "Google Nest" products: Google Trust (free data insurance), Google Bee (a personal drone to watch over you at all times), Google Hug (a kind of matchmaking service), and Google Bye (an online memorial automatically created for you by Google after you die).
After the presentation, the Peng people told the audience that it was all a parody designed to emphasize Google's…
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2014. Comments (1)

Quantified Toilets—collecting your toilet data —
When attendees at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing (held in Toronto) went to the bathroom, they found a sign alerting them that "Behaviour at these toilets is being recorded for analysis. Access your live data at quantifiedtoilets.com."
Visiting the Quantified Toilets website (which has the tagline 'Capturing toilet behavior for real-time data and health analysis'), they found a live feed that provided data about all the toilet "deposits" that had been made. The information included how much had been depoisted, whether drugs were detected in it, as well as other…
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Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2014. Comments (0)

Is CodeBabes a hoax? —CodeBabes is a new site that promises to make the process of learning how to write code more fun by using "hot babes" as the instructors in video tutorials. Every time the student advances a level, the "babe" removes an item of clothing. The website explains:
"We've developed a revolutionary learning programme that leverages sexual desire and turns it into the most powerful learning mechanism ever known to mankind. Babes and code. You watch the lesson. Absorb the info. Pass the quiz, and your instructor removes one piece of clothing. How much clothing, you ask? Enough to motivate…
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014. Comments (5)

Miracle Machine wine maker —
Several weeks ago, some wine-industry veterans (Kevin Boyer and Philip James) announced the invention of a gadget that would allow people to make wine at home in only 3 days. They called it the "miracle machine."
The gadget seemed somewhat plausible, given the existence of home-brewing kits for beer. Plus it was promoted by a slick video and accompanying website. So over 600 media outlets took the bait and reported it as news.
But yesterday, the "inventors" issued a press release…
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014. Comments (0)

Celebrity Salami —
A new website has many people slightly puzzled. It claims to be producing artisanal salamis made from lab-grown meat from celebrity tissue samples. So it's kind of like a celebrity version of Manbeef.com (from way back in 2001) — except that it's celebrity beef and the human meat is grown using in-vitro meat production.
Salon.com got a response from "Kevin" on the BiteLabs team who explains that "the site is partly a commentary on food culture, the ethics of meat, and 'the way…
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014. Comments (1)

Bottled Fresh Air —DUPÉ sells bottled fresh air, as well as other products such as bottled moon light, positive thoughts, and "eco-friendly little rays of sunshine."
The site (and storefront) were part of a spoof campaign launched a few months ago by Yarra Valley Water, providers of tap water to the Melbourne area.
If you try to buy any of DUPÉ's fresh air, you get a message telling you: "Buying bottled air doesn't make sense. It's just like buying bottled water."
(Thanks to Patty on WU for the…
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013. Comments (2)

eMeringue —
If you need a meringue top for a pie, and you need it fast, then look no further than eMeringue.com. They're the "Internet's #1 meringue delivery service." Their fleet of eMeringue trucks are gassed up and ready to hit the highway, to deliver your meringue top directly to your door.
eMeringue was an April Fool's Day hoax by the Motley Fool investment people. But it dates back to 1999, so I'm impressed that they've kept the site up all this time.
If you look at the eMeringue welcome…
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013. Comments (0)

Lamppost Windmills —
I haven't seen anything on English-language sites about this, but according to dichtbij.nl (with a little help from Google translate), a site calling itself "Green Light District" appeared online several months ago.
It claimed that the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in North Holland was going to put small green windmills on top of 30,000 lampposts in order to generate power for the lights, thereby creating a "green light district". Any excess power would be routed to the electrical…
Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013. Comments (1)

Animal Instincts Pet Condoms —
"Is Sparky a sex addict?" the website petcondoms.org asks visitors. "Spot the signs!" The site also offers advice on "how to put on a pet condom".
A few clicks on some of the links soon reveals that, no, this site isn't really selling pet condoms. It was recently launched by the San Francisco SPCA as a way to educate the public about the importance of spaying and neutering your pet. The point being that trying to put a condom on your pet is an ineffective way of preventing unwanted…
Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013. Comments (0)

Remember the 13th —
According to the website rememberthe13th.com, NASA is going to announce something BIG on the 13th of November:
NASA has made a historic discovery that will shake the entire planet. This announcement will be released to the media on November 13th, 2013. It will be a day to remember and One for the history books. Spread the word to your family & friends and sign up to stay updated.
However, a recent update to the site now says that the date of the big reveal has been moved forward to…
Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013. Comments (4)

Black Friend Connect —
"Every white person needs a black friend," blackfriendconnect.com tells us. And if you don't have a black friend already, they've got you covered. For a reasonable fee, they'll provide a black friend who's willing to "give you a hug, fist bump, high-five or whichever you prefer," and will also attend "your favorite white concert" with you.
The joke here seems obvious enough that there's no need to prove the site is a hoax. But if you really want to prove it to yourself, try placing an…
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013. Comments (0)

The Malfunctioning Oil Rig Drink Dispenser Hoax —
On June 7, an Occupy Seattle activist, Logan Price, posted a video online that appeared to show an embarrassing scene from a private party of Shell Oil executives. Price explained, on his twitter page, that he had managed to infiltrate the party, which was intended to celebrate the launch of Shell's Arctic drilling program, and which was hosted at the top of the Seattle Space Needle.
The centerpiece of the party was a sculpture shaped like an iceberg, topped by a miniature oil rig…
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012. Comments (0)

Earn Money Working at Home—Become an Envelope Elf! —
The consumer affairs office of the state of Massachusetts has created a series of phony websites designed to teach people how to avoid online scams. The sites advertise products such as work-at-home deals, weight-loss products, and free trips. If anyone tries to order something from these sites, they're directed to a page identifying it as a scam and telling them how they could have spotted the scam. My favorite one is the "Envelope Elf" site.
The SEC did something similar back in…
Posted: Fri May 18, 2012. Comments (1)

Post-Rapture Pet Adoption —
For over three years, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets has been offering peace of mind to Rapture believers. Should the Rapture come, and the devout are whisked away up to Heaven, this service will take care of their pets that are left behind  for a small fee of $135 per pet.
But now Bloomberg News is reporting that the business was all just a hoax concocted by Bart Centre, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire, in order to promote his book, The Atheist Camel Chronicles. Bloomberg…
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012. Comments (2)

Ghetto Hikes —
The author of "Ghetto Hikes," which is a twitter feed and accompanying website, offers this description of it:
I'm 28. I have a full time job leading urban kids (of all races) on nature hikes. I simply write down shit they say.
It's kind of obvious that it's a parody in the style of "Shit My Dad Says," but the Village Voice confirms it isn't real:
Looks like Ghetto Hikes is a parody account -- and an unfunny one at that. According to a just-released tweet, Men's Humor and Ghetto Hikes…
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012. Comments (0)

Clayton Sotos, Fartographer —
Someone has gone to a bunch of trouble to make it seem as if Dell produced an ad featuring "Visual Innovator" Clayton Sotos. The ad has high production values, and there's an accompanying website showcasing some of Sotos's work. The joke is that Sotos photographs people farting.
Dell insists they're not responsible for the ad. They posted this statement on their twitter page: "This video is in no way affiliated with Dell, but it's great to see creative professionals get inspiration…
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012. Comments (0)

Sea Captain Date—real or fake? —
As far as niche dating sites go, you can't get much more niche than SeaCaptainDate.com. It describes itself as "the only place for Sea Captains to connect with men and women who share a love of the ocean."
Now I'm willing to believe that there are niche dating sites out there, but SeaCaptainDate.com seems a little too weird to be real. Is it really just an elaborate joke?
I'm not the first to ponder this question. The site first attracted attention back in Jan 2011, when articles…
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012. Comments (3)

CLOO: The Socially Networked Toilet —
The brilliant (or incredibly stupid) idea behind CLOO is to use social networking to make it easier to find somewhere to pee in big cities. The CLOO website explains:
CLOO' is based on one simple truth— we all have to pee. Though in urban cities finding a clean, available restroom is difficult & frustrating. That’s where CLOO' comes in.
CLOO' is a community of registered users who choose to share their bathrooms and make city-living easier, while earning a small profit. Using…
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011. Comments (3)